Shabbat Passover 5774 Rabbi David M. Glickman "American Grace" -- This Generation is Different There are two ideas I want to introduce. Two very Jewish ideas, but only one ב כ ל ד ו ר ו דו ר " are: gets credit for being a Jewish idea. The two ideas 'In every generation...'" and "Grace." b'chol dor va-dor, On the surface, we think of b'chol dor va-dor, multi-generational memory as a Jewish idea, and grace as a non-jewish (perhaps, even as a specifically Christian) idea. This is because we don t often use the word grace in Jewish conversation, but we will often use the term L dor va-dor ( from generation to generation ) or b chol dor va-dor ( in every generation ). Grace is, however, a Jewish concept, and we saw it in the Torah portion we read today during the Shabbat of Passover. I learned the definition of Grace from my chaplaincy supervisor, Rev. Nancy Chambers, in Seattle. She taught me, "Grace is a gift from God that we receive regardless of our merit." In Hebrew, it is chen. This is why if you ever meet a Jewish girl named Grace or Gracie, her Hebrew name is often Channah or Hannah -- from Chen, meaning "grace." In English, "Grace" is the root of words related to giving and receiving: gracious, grateful and gratitude. After Moses sees the tragedy of the Golden Calf, and smashes the tablets of the Torah on the ground. Moses pleas to God: ו ע ת ה א ם נ א מ צ את י ח ן ב ע ינ יך ה וד ע נ י נ א א ת ד ר כ ך ו א ד ע ך ל מ ע ן א מ צ א ח ן ב ע ינ י Now, if I have truly found grace in your eyes, pray let me know Your ways, that I may know You and continue to find grace in your eyes. (Ex. 33:13). When we live in times of uncertainty, we pray for grace, and we pray to know God s ways. Much like today. There are two times on the night of the Passover seder when we invoke the words: ב כ ל ד ו ר ו דו ר B'chol dor va-dor -- "In every generation..." ב כ ל ד ו ר ו דו ר, עו מ ד ים ע ל ינו ל כ ל ו ת נו. ו ה ק דו ש ב רו ך הו א מ צ יל נו מ י ד ם: In every generation men rise against us. But the Holy One, Blessed be He, saves us from their hand. - 1 -
AND ב כ ל ד ו ר ו דו ר ח י ב א ד ם ל ר או ת א ת ע צ מו, כ א ל ו הו א י צ א מ מ צ ר י ם In every generation it is man's duty to regard himself as though he personally had come out of Egypt, "In every generation..." "In every generation..." We hear the echoes of l'dor v'dor, so often -- the Jewish urgency of passing identity, rituals, stories, values, Torah onto the next generation. At our seder, we usually focus on the mandate of the second ד ו ר ו דו ר :ב כ ל That each of us must see ourselves as having been personally taken out of Egypt. This was the resonant refrain, and indeed living in the comforts of America, it seems as if we have been taken out of Egypt. The idea that in every generation men would rise against us seemed like bubbe meises, grandma's stories, if we didn't live through anti-semitic attacks ourselves. With the exception of when Annie and I would invite our friends who were Holocaust survivors or refugees from the former Soviet Union, few members of our seder over the years had ever experienced real anti-semitism. Yes, you would hear the occasional story of the kid who was called a name, or the anti-semitic slur said at the check-out lane. However, compared to what our grandparents or great-grandparents, the potential deadly violence of anti-semitism seemed largely theoretical -- or at least relegated to volumes of history, or other countries and continents. Then we had last Sunday. Panicked phone calls from parents whose teens were still in lock down at the JCC. A literal fog of information. How many people were killed? Did the killer say something? Was this a family dispute? How many other Jewish institutions had he attached? Just the JCC? Village Shalom? One of the Temples? The misinformation was itself terrorizing and unsettling. By the time we were all sitting down to our seder tables, the dust had settled a little bit, and the tragic truths came out. There were three dead from the horrific shooting: Terri LaManno, and a grandfather and grandson together, Dr. William Corporon and Reat Griffin Underwood. I cannot adequately express the empathy I feel for these families. Our tradition teaches that honoring your mother and father accords you long life -- how then could someone be shot while visiting her ill mother? I have sat with individuals who have lost parents, and individuals who have lost children -- but never both in one violent eruption. Three beautiful lives. Three giving souls. Lives taken because they were mistaken for being Jewish. Why? Because they were in our communal homes. For those of us who are students of history, this violent attack played on the paranoia of our - 2 -
past -- Passover and Christian Holy Week were favorite times for killing Jews from the Crusades to the Holocaust. It seemed, when we sat down for seder, that in fact the first ב כ ל ד ו ר ו דו ר b'chol dor va-dor was correct. Anti-Semitism never, ever stops. Frank Bruni, in his op-ed in the New York Times, called anti-semitism "The Oldest Hatred, Forever Young." America has a much larger problem with racial prejudice than religious prejudice. According to his column, only 20% of hate crimes are religiously as opposed to racially motivated. But of the religiously motivated hate crimes -- 65% were targeting Jews. A statistic unchanged in the last five or ten years. This Shabbat we read how God's covenant with the People Israel includes distinctiveness. God says: "He said: I hereby make a covenant. Before all your people I will work such wonders as have not been wrought on all the earth or in any nation; and all the people who are with you shall see how awesome are the Lord's deeds which I will perform for you." (Ex. 34:10) But, in the words of Tevye from Fiddler on the Roof: "I know, I know. We are Your chosen people. But, once in a while, can't You choose someone else?" Fiddler, Schindler's List, and other popular culture touch-points become the narratives of the anti-semitism so few of us have ever experienced. It is what I would call negative nostalgia. It's not that we want those times back, but the hatred seen in movies and read about in books become defining lenses, and parts of our Jewish collective unconscious. We shed real tears both at Schindler's and at Holocaust museums. We also genuinely laugh at the rabbi in Fiddler, when asked for a blessing for the Czar chants: "A blessing for the Tsar? Of course! May God bless and keep the Tsar... far away from us! " I received several emails asking for something to read at the seder table, which is what prompted me to write the prayer that was sent out. One of the emails said: "I really feel like this night is different from the other nights." And what we realized as the dust further settled was, this night was different. This incident was different. And not just in its horror, but also in the response. Neither the victims nor the response fit the trope of: ב כ ל ד ו ר ו דו ר, עו מ ד ים ע ל ינו ל כ ל ו ת נו. ו ה ק דו ש ב רו ך הו א מ צ יל נו מ י ד ם: In each and every generation people rise against us. But the Holy One, Blessed be He, saves us from their hand. I, like so many of you, received phone calls, emails, texts and Facebook messages from people across the world, and spanning the religious spectrum. - 3 -
From my former roommate in college, Suminder Singh Kohli, to whom I reached out after the Sikh Temple shooting nearly two years ago: "Wishing you & the Glickman tribe the very best for your Passover, love you & thinking about you. We will also pray for all of the families that love their JCC out there. Be well brother." From a friend from high school, Lana, who got very involved in her LDS church, wrote me: "David - thinking of you and your congregation. Sending all my faithful mormon prayers in behalf of all those left mourning after the horrendous events (which really in someway means all of us). I'm so terribly sorry. God bless you and your work." This was not the response for my great grandparents in Eastern Europe:B'chol dor va-dor; In each and every generation, Jewish rabbis did not get notes of support from their Sikh and Mormon friends. In past generations, and in other lands, the chief of police would not be invited as the guest of honor to the communal Passover Seder as he was here this past week. In times and lands far away, the chief of police was if not directing the pogrom, at least turning a blind eye. B'chol dor va-dor; In each and every generation, non-jewish chiefs of police did not come to a room full of Jews as John Douglass did at the community wide seder held in this room days ago saying: "people have asked me if non-jews will stay away from Jewish institutions like the JCC and Village Shalom, and I am here to say to you on behalf of so many: 'No way, No how.' We are part of the same community." In past generations, rabbis did not get personal phone calls from their members of congress with love and support. I am not saying this to brag in any way, because I am sure that Rep. Yoder called the other rabbis in his district as well. Though Rep. Yoder did ask me to pass along his personal wishes of comfort to this community. No, B'chol dor va-dor; In each and every generation, if there were memorial services for victims of anti-semitic hatred, stages would not be FILLED with dozens, and dozens, and dozens of police officers who did not need to be on post, elected officials including the Governor, members of Congress, mayors, and the US Attorney General -- and so many clergy, from every faith tradition represented in our city. This outpouring of love from across faiths is what Robert Putnam, the former dean of Harvard's Kennedy School of Government calls, "American Grace." The specific time in history in which we live, the mutual benefit and support that exist across faith boundaries is, "American Grace." On Shabbat of Passover, Jewish communities read Song of Songs (Song of - 4 -
Solomon) which reads: כ י-ע ז ה כ מ ו ת א ה ב ה "Love is as powerful as death." (8:6). The Kansas City community gave this rabbi hope that perhaps.... perhaps this can be the case. We still have fear. We still have anger. We must still be vigilant against anti- Semitism and other hatreds in our community. But there is also more there. We come to God today with prayers for help -- and prayers of thanksgiving; cries for justice -- and a recognition of grace. - 5 -